The Incarnation As Mutual Indwelling

The Incarnation is the mystery of God and humanity dwelling together in unbroken, inseparable union. Christ has taken on our full humanity, not as a vessel or garment to be cast aside but as that which he has become, without in any way detracting from his full divinity. For “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). This union is not a blending or confusion of natures but a co-inherence — a mutual indwelling — such that wherever the Son is, both divinity and humanity are fully present. St. Maximus the Confessor speaks of this great and encompassing mystery:

By his gracious condescension God became man and is called man for the sake of man and by exchanging his condition for ours revealed the power that elevates man to God through his love for God and brings God down to man because of his love for man. By this blessed inversion, man is made God by divinization and God is made man by hominization. For the Word of God and God wills always and in all things to accomplish the mystery of his embodiment. (Ambigua 7)

“God became man” in order to save lost man, and — after he had united through Himself the natural fissures running through the general nature of the universe ... to fulfill the great purpose of God the Father, recapitulating all things, both in heaven and on earth, in Himself, in whom they also had been created. (Ambigua 41)

The deified person, while remaining completely human in nature, both in body and soul, becomes wholly God in both body and soul, through grace and the divine brightness of the beatifying glory that permeates the whole person. (Ambigua; Patrologia Graeca 91, 1088)

In the Incarnation, Christ did not become merely one of us but one with us. He is not simply one man among many but the one in whom God’s eternal purpose to bring unity to all in heaven and on earth — all are summed up in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10). Christ is in all and all are in Christ. This mutual indwelling is the heart of salvation. 

Christ has united human nature to himself, and so is present in all humanity, sustaining each one of us. In him, humanity is healed, restored, and brought into union with God. As St. Gregory of Nazianzus says, “That which he has not assumed he has not healed; but that which is united to his Godhead is also saved” (Epistle 101, To Cledonius).

The Co-Inherence of Divinity and Humanity in our Lord Jesus Christ means that salvation is not some abstract, legal declaration, but a real and transformative union. Through such tangible means as baptism and the Eucharist, we are joined to Christ’s death and resurrection, and by the Holy Spirit we share in his divine life. “It is no longer I who live,” says Paul, “but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

The Incarnation is the co-inherence,
the interpenetration, the mutual indwelling
of divinity and humanity, of God and humankind.
It means Christ is in all and all are in Christ.

Some Moment Other Than the Cross

The Cross is where the world is judged and the sins of the world forgiven. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). Christ is “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:12). Even as he was being crucified, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed for us all, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

The Moment of the Cross is the only true moment, the only moment in which we belong — the only moment there is. To turn away from this moment is to turn toward non-being. To embrace this moment is to embrace Christ, who draws us to himself. Looking to this moment, Lord Jesus said, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:31-32).

When we do not forgive others, or ourselves, 
we are living in some moment other than 
that of the Cross, for the Cross is where 
the forgiveness of all is revealed.

Forgiveness is All of One Piece

St. Paul tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the whole world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). This forgiveness by which we are forgiven is all of one piece with the forgiveness by which we forgive each other. All humankind is one, also, for there is only one human nature, only one human being, of which we all partake. Through the Incarnation, the Human Being in which we all participate is defined in Jesus Christ, who reveals for us exactly what it is to be human. And in him we are all forgiven from before the foundation of the world.

Through our participation in Jesus Christ, the only Human Being there is, we are intimately and inextricably bound to each other, and the implication runs deep. We belong to each other so deeply that none of us can finally be whole until each one of us is finally whole. So we must learn to forgive one another, allowing the forgiveness of God, revealed in Jesus Christ, to have its full work in us. Until we do, we will not be whole. In a very real way, and as the ancient Desert Fathers would say, “My brother is my salvation.”

Divine Grace Through Tangible Means

Christ is the Creator of all. Everything in heaven and on earth is his handiwork and reveals him. It is no wonder, then, that he would minister divine grace to us through tangible things. Indeed, through the tangibility of created matter, he ministers salvation to us. For salvation is not abstract and disembodied, separating spirit from body, but it is actually and transformative. God ministers grace to us in tangible ways and through such means as water, oil, bread and wine. These are not mere symbols but become sacramental elements through which God actually accomplishes something in us, manifesting salvation to us.

In the Water of Baptism, we are buried with Christ, baptized into his death, so that just as Christ has been raised from the dead, we too may live in newness of life, the life of Christ in us.

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)

In the Oil of Anointing, Christ ministers healing to us, just as he sent the disciples out to preach, with authority to expel demons and heal diseases. Presbyters/Priests were likewise given authority to anoint with oil for healing.

They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. (Mark 6:13)

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. (James 5:14)

The Bread and Wine of Eucharist have true participation in the Body and Blood of Christ, and so we, who are many, become the Body of Christ.

Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

Whoever Loves Not Knows Nothing

God is Love. Where Love is, there God is. The Love of God is not abstract but is very tangibly revealed in the self-giving of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross. This is the love God desires to reveal in us and through us — self-giving, other-centered, cross-shaped. St. Paul speaks quite splendidly and famously, in 1 Corinthians 13, on the nature of Love.

St. John the Theologian also brings us some important insights in the middle three chapters of First John. He tells us quite plainly that whoever loves has been born of God and knows God, and whoever does not love does not know God.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. (1 John 2:7-11)

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. (1 John 3:14)

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:18-20)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8) 

Whoever Loves Not Knows Nothing.
Whoever Loves Knows God,
For God is Love.

All of One Piece

Who and how we worship instructs our faith and informs how we live — and these cannot be separated. Even those who claim no faith nonetheless have an object of highest concern that functions as their deity. They have a pattern of rituals developed in service to such idols, which instructs their thoughts and reinforces the intents and purposes of their hearts. And so are their lives shaped and formed day by day.

Who we worship is not just a matter of doctrine — it is the foundation of our identity. To worship the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit is to anchor our lives in the One who is not only true and beautiful and good, but is Truth, Beauty, and Goodness itself.

But how we worship matters too. If our worship is full of awe, centered on the mystery of Christ, breathing the Scriptures with the Spirit of Life, we will be drawn into the divine fellowship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our faith will be nourished with depth and clarity, illumined with the Light of God. But if our worship is casual, self-focused, empty of the sacred, our faith will easily wither into sentiment and we will be darkened by delusion.

Worship is not performance — it is formation. It teaches us who God is, who we are, and how the world, stripped of all delusion, is created to be: the Kingdom of God come, the will of God being done on earth as it is in heaven. In lifting our hearts to the Lord of All, we are shaped into people who do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God. 

Lex Orandi, 
Lex Credendi, 
Lex Vivendi.

How we pray, 
how we believe, 
how we live is 
all of one piece. 

The Humble Expectation of Hope

Do not trust in yourself or in your own strength, but put your trust in the Lord. As the wise man said, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). 

This is humility and hope, to recognize our own weakness, inability and lack, that we may have all our confidence and expectation in God. St. Paul had a serious matter he was dealing with. “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). 

Hope is not a wishy-washy maybe-so-maybe-not affair; it is a peaceful anticipation, a joyful expectation. Lord Jesus counsels us to learn of him, for he is gentle and humble in heart, and in him there is the calm assurance of rest for the weary soul. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). 

The psalm writer captures this very well, coming humbly before the Lord, lifting up his cry for help, and  watching in patient expectation:

Listen to my words, LORD, 
    consider my lament. 
Hear my cry for help, 
    my King and my God, 
    for to you I pray. 
In the morning, LORD, 
    you hear my voice; 
    in the morning I lay my requests 
    before you and wait expectantly. 

Let all who take refuge in you be glad; 
    let them ever sing for joy. 
Spread your protection over them, 
    that those who love your name 
    may rejoice in you. 
Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; 
    you surround them with your favor 
    as with a shield. (Psalm 5:1-3, 11-12)

The secret of humility and hope is that they go together. 
In hope, there is humility, and in humility, there is hope. 

To Love is to Be

We are created in the image of God, who is Love. To be like God, who is Love. Created by Love for Love. To love is what it is to be like God. To love is what it is to be human. To love is what it is to be. This is revealed in Jesus Christ, who is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form, and in whom we are made complete and become partakers of the divine nature. At the Cross, we see that the Love of God is Self-Giving, Other-Centered, Cross-Shaped.

One day the Pharisees got together, and one of them, an expert in the Law of Moses, asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment. Jesus answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).  

Everything in the world depends on Love — love for God and love for our neighbor — for God, the Creator of All Things, the Source of All Being, is Love. To turn away from God and one another is to turn away from Love. It is to turn inwardly upon ourselves — incurvatus in se — who cannot sustain our own being. And so it is a turn from being to non-being.

To Love is to Be. 
To Fail to Love is to Fail to Be. 
For God, Who is the Source 
of All Being, is Love. 

Faith Looks Like Love

To have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is to trust him — to entrust ourselves to him — and so it is to follow him, to do as he teaches and obey as he commands. And what does he command but to love. Love for God, love for one another, love for our neighbor, and love even for our enemies. This is what faith looks like, for faith works through love.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40) 

You have heard that it was said, “You shall lover your neighbor and hater your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:43-45) 

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:1-8) 

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13) 

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)

What It Is To Have Faith in Jesus Christ

Faith in Christ is different from faith in propositions about Christ. The latter makes faith nothing more than an abstraction, disembodied and detached from the person of Christ, and from relationship with Christ — because Christ is not the object of such faith. True faith in Christ is a living, dynamic, and personal relationship with Christ. 

Lord Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). To have faith in Jesus Christ is to follow him, for he is the Way. It is to yield to him, for he is The Truth. It is to live him, for he is The Life.

The Gospel Begins With Jesus Christ

The Gospel begins with Jesus Christ. He is what God meant when God said, “Let us make Humankind in Our image, and to be like Us.” He is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the Fullness of Divinity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 1:15; 2:9). By the Incarnation, he is the one Human Being, of which we all partake. He is what it means to be human, and in him we are made complete, and become partakers of the Divine Nature (Colossians 2:10; 2 Peter 1:4).

To be created in the image of God — which is to be truly human — is to be conformed to the image of Christ, who is the Image of the Invisible God. To be like God is to be like Christ, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form. 

God is Love. Self-giving, other-centered, cross-shaped Love. To be created in the image of God, and to be like God, is to love with the divine love, to live the life that is self-giving, other-centered and cross-shaped. The image of God is most profoundly revealed at the cross, where our Lord Jesus Christ shows us what it is to be God and so what it is to be human. 

The Gospel begins and ends with Jesus Christ, the Incarnate One, Crucified and Risen. For all in heaven and on earth are created by him, through him, for him and in him, and all hold together in him (Colossians 1:16-17), and the express, eternal purpose of God is to bring all in heaven and on earth to unity in Christ — all summed up and headed in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10). If we begin with anything else, we make Christ and the Cross secondary.

An Interesting Thing About the Saints

An interesting thing about the great saints is that while others experienced them as holy, they experienced themselves as sinful. St. Paul said, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15). And Lord Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). The following story is told of Abba Sisoes (d. 429), one of the great Desert Fathers of the ancient Egyptian desert (his feast day is observed on July 6):

When Abba Sisoes was about to die, and the fathers were sitting with him, they saw that his face was shining like the sun. He said unto them, “Behold, Abba Anthony has come.” After a little while he said again, “Behold, the company of prophets has come,” and his face shone twice as bright. Suddenly, he became as one speaking with someone else, and the fathers sitting there asked him, “Show us with whom you are speaking, father.”

Immediately, Abba Sisoes said to them, “Behold, the angels came to take me away and I asked them to leave me so that I might tarry here a little longer and repent.” And the old men said unto him, “You have no need to repent, father.” And Abba Sisoes said to the fathers, “I do not know in my soul if I have rightly begun to repent,” and they all realized that the old man was perfect.

Then, suddenly, his face beamed like the sun and all who sat there were afraid and he said to them, “Look! Look! Behold, the Lord has come and he says, ‘Bring unto me the chosen vessel which is in the desert,’” and he at once delivered up his spirit and became like lightning and the whole place was filled with a sweet fragrance.*

Therefore, let us not lose heart. Let us gladly own ourselves sinners, that we may be cleansed by our Lord Jesus Christ and know our true identity in him. Let us gladly confess our lostness, that we may know our true home in him. Let us gladly embrace our death, that we may know our true life in him. Amen.

* The Paradise of the Holy Fathers, Vol 2, translated by E.A. Wallis Budge, (Seattle, WA: St. Nectarios Press, 1984)  

In Christ Humankind is Born Again

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Firstborn of the Dead is also Firstborn of Creation (Colossians 1:15, 18). We may say that he is Firstborn of Creation because he is Firstborn of the Dead, for the Creator of all things in heaven and on earth is Christ crucified and risen. St. Paul shows us that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ encompasses all humankind:

Just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18)

Just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

It is through the resurrection of Christ, St. Peter tells us, that we have been given new birth, that we have been born again, regenerated:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-4)

Paul understands this new birth to be related to baptism: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5). How is baptism related to the new birth that has been given through the resurrection of Christ? Paul shows us in Romans 6:

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:3-8)

Through baptism, we are immersed — plunged — into the reality of this new birth in a very tangible way. Dying with Lord Jesus, we are buried with him, so to be united with him in resurrection, and to live this new life. For as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” And so, through the faithfulness of Christ, by the Cross and Resurrection, what is universally true of humankind, of human being, is personally experienced.

In the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, all humankind is
born again, in Him who is the
Firstborn of Creation. 

The Reciprocal Truth of the Incarnation

On the Cross, we see the reciprocal truth of the Incarnation: Jesus Christ is not only God’s faithfulness toward us, he is also our faithfulness toward God. 

Just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18)

Where Adam was unfaithful and disobedient to God, resulting in death and corruption for all, our Lord Jesus Christ was faithful and obedient to God, resulting in justification and life for all. 

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

As fully divine, Christ did not consider being equal with God as something to be plundered and exploited, to be held on to at all costs, and used for his own advantage — Christ reveals that God is simply not like that! As fully human, Christ was fully obedient and faithful to God, even to the point of the shameful death of the Cross. So, by the Incarnation and the Cross, we see exactly what the faithfulness of God is, and what the faithfulness of humankind is — what it means to be God, and what it means to be human.

Apart From Love, There is No Holiness

God is Love, and God is Holy. The love of God and the holiness of God are not in competition. There is never any tension between them that must somehow be resolved. They do not need to be balanced out, one against the other. There is no “God is Love, but God is also holy.” If at any time we feel the need to add a “but” after the love of God, then we have not yet come to an adequate understanding of the love of God. 

To say that God is Love is to speak of the nature of God. Love is not merely incidental to God, not merely a quality God possesses or an action God occasionally employs. God is not merely loving (adjective); God is love (noun). Love is what God is.

The Love and Holiness of God are not two different things but two different ways of speaking about the same thing, for God is simple, not a being of parts. The Holiness of God is nothing more nor less nor other than the Love of God. The Love of God is holy, and the holiness of God is God’s Love. Apart from Love, there is no such thing as Holiness, for God is Love. 

Church and Scripture

The relationship between the Church and Scripture is that the Church is guided by Scripture, and Scripture is interpreted by the Church, which is uniquely authorized to teach what Scripture means. 

The Scriptures are about our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Church is the Body of Christ. It is the only body authorized and commissioned by Christ to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that he commanded. 

Further, the Church is the only body that is empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill that Great Commission. Indeed, Lord Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide the Church into the truth, and the Church is the only body St. Paul refers to as the Pillar and Foundation of the Truth.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20) 

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. (John 16:13)

Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the Pillar and Foundation of the Truth. (1 Timothy 3:14-15) 

A Traditioned Faith

The Christian faith is not an innovative one — we do not make it up as we go along. It is, rather, a traditioned faith, handed down generation by generation from the beginning. It is the Apostolic faith delivered once for all to the Church.

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 3)

The Greek word for “delivered” here is paradidomi, to give or entrust into the hands of another. What has been delivered in this case is the Christian faith concerning Christ and the gospel, and the “common salvation” in which we share. It has been delivered “once for all,” whole and complete, to the saints, the Church. St. Jude exhorts us to “contend earnestly” for this faith. The word is epagonizomai, from the word agonizomai, to strive or labor fervently. Literally, it is to agonize, like combatants in the public games, wrestlers grappling in competition.

St. Paul says something very similar in Ephesians 4:3-6. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” 

There is one faith, delivered once for all, and Jude means for us to grapple fervently for it, because there were those who would “turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4)

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

Paul charges the Church at Thessalonica to stand fast and hold on to the “traditions” with a powerful, persistent grip. The word for “traditions” is paradosis and refers to that which is given over, delivered, or entrusted to another. Paul is speaking of one faith, the Christian faith, delivered once for all, and whether taught orally or in writing, the tradition is all of one piece. Hold fast to it.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (2 Timothy 1:13-14) 

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we see a double action. First, he speaks of what Timothy heard from Paul, the “pattern of sounds words.” Paul has committed it to Timothy, and Timothy has received it — this is the nature of tradition. 

The word for “pattern” here is hypotyposis, a compound of hypo (under) and typos (type). The typos is an imprint or image from a die that is struck or a seal that is pressed into the wax. It is like a typewriter key that leaves the imprint of a letter or other character. Hypo emphasizes the underlying position, that the imprint comes from the original image on the die or seal. 

There is a pattern or imprint of sound teaching that shows the true and authentic image of the Christ and the gospel. Hold fast to it, Timothy, this good deposit has been entrusted to you. The word for “entrust” is paratithemi, to deposit or commit to one’s charge. This is the first action: the pattern of sound teaching has been entrusted to Timothy. The second action corresponds to this.

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2:2)

Paul has entrusted to Timothy the sound teaching of the gospel, the pattern bearing the exact image of the apostolic deposit. And now Timothy is to take what has been traditioned to him and likewise tradition it to faithful men, qualified and competent to teach it to yet others. And so it is handed down from generation to generation.

The Resurrection of the Dead

The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the resurrection of the dead. He whom God raised from the dead has become our resurrection.

Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-4)

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Colossians 1:15-18)

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:3-5)

Why We Sin

We are not mortal because we sin; we sin because we are mortal. St. Paul did not say that death is the sting of sin, but that sin is the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:56). It is not the sting that causes the bee but the bee that causes the sting.

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. (1 Corinthians 15:52-56)

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

The power of death has been broken, so also the power of the devil, who held the power of death — and with that, the power of sin.

The Nature of Salvation

The nature of salvation is to become Partakers of the Divine Nature, to be like God, who is Love. Love gives and serves. To love, give and serve is not a means to salvation but is the very nature of salvation.

For God so loved the world that He gave. (John 3:16)

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11) 

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. (2 Peter 1:3-7)

The Distinction Between Heaven and Earth

When we behold Christ in everyone and everything, 
the distinction between Heaven and Earth disappears.

Incarnation and Deification

We have been created in the image of God and to be like God, and though it has often been tarnished and obscured, the divine image nonetheless remains. God has never backed away from his purpose. Indeed, Jesus Christ has himself become the image of the invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form, and in him we are made complete (Colossians 1:15; 2:9-10). 

By his Incarnation, our Lord Jesus Christ has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind, and through the work of the Cross reveals both what it means to be human and what it means to be divine. So the Incarnation shows that human nature was meant to be the bearer of divinity. We are expressly created for it.

Deification is the fulfillment of what it means to be human. It is to become in Christ, “partakers of the divine nature.” To be like God, becoming by grace what Christ is by nature. To be conformed to the image of the Son, who is himself the image of the Father. To be who we truly and inherently are, what God planned for us even from before the foundation of the world. To enjoy in Christ the relationship he has with the Father and the Holy Spirit. For it is the gracious work of the Father, through the faithfulness of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:4)

Gratitude is Humility is Happiness

“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His Love endures forever.” (Psalm 118:1)

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

We Cannot Be Saved Without Him

If we do not forgive our brother for his own sake, then we do not yet understand. For he is our brother, with whom we are intimately and inextricably connected — and we cannot be saved without him.

We are all united by Creation and Incarnation. For all are created by Christ, through Christ, for Christ, and in Christ, and all consist and hold together in Christ (Colossians 1:16-17).

By the Incarnation, Christ has united God with all humankind. He became not just one of us but one with us. Indeed, Christ has become Human Being, the only Human Being there is, and of which we all participate. He is precisely what it means to be human.

Christ has become intimately and inextricably with humankind, and so we are intimately and inextricably united with each other. This union we have with each other cannot be undone any more than the Incarnation can be undone. Therefore, we must forgive one another, for we cannot be saved without one another.

The Salvation to Which We Are Called

The Salvation to which we are called and by which we are delivered is the Way of the Cross, the Way of Dying to ourselves and Living unto God.

We see this in the Sacrament of Baptism. St. Paul teaches that in baptism we are immersed into the death of Christ and buried with him, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have become one with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be one with him in his resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). The early Church understood this as the New Birth. Paul continues:

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:8-11)

Salvation is not an abstract thing, some other where and other when. It is tangible, livable, even edible. It is the life we live now in the body as we yield to the life Christ now lives in us. This is the paradox Paul declares in Galatians 2:20.

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

Salvation is the faithfulness of Christ in us, the life of Christ energizing us, transforming us. It is participating in the divine nature, being conformed to the image and likeness of Christ. So it is always giving up all we have and are, and following Christ. The extent that we have not yet done so is the extent the we have yet to be saved and that our faith is still lacking.

A Retributive Deity is Abominable

A retributive deity is a petty deity, and one that is endlessly retributive even moreso. Such a being is not worthy of worship. It is  not a being who is love, and so not a being that can truly be called God. For the revelation of God we have in Jesus Christ is this: God is Love (1 John 4:8). Love is not merely something God has, or brings into play from time to time. No, Love is what God is. It is the very nature of God to love, at all times and in all circumstances. There is nothing God has created that is not also the object of God’s love.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation of God. He is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form. If we have seen him, we have seen the Father. There is nothing retributive or retaliatory, for God is Love, and love is not retributive or retaliatory. God does not seek revenge. Even as he was being crucified, the prayer of Lord Jesus was, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

To view God as a retributive deity, one has to ignore what Lord Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount:

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45)

Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. This is not retribution. This is the boundless love of the God who is love. St. Paul describes this love of us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Retribution and retaliation have no place at all here. That would be self-seeking. That would be keeping record of being wronged, and holding grudges. That is not love but pettiness. But love never fails, never gives up, but perseveres for the sake of the loved one — even for one’s enemies!

Even in Romans 12:17-21, where we read of “wrath” and “vengeance” of God, it is no less about the love of God. For God is love, so even the wrath and vengeance of God must be the manifestation of the God’s love even towards the wicked. It is not retributive but restorative, to put things right.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

It is not our job to put things right; we would skew to self-interest and try to even the score. Leave it to God, who always acts in righteousness. It is God’s to handle.

How does God repay? Evil for evil; “You did something against me, now I’ll do something against you”? No, God does not retaliate, does not exact retribution. That would be no better than a petty deity, a Zeus-like being.

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil,” Paul says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Why does he say that? Because that is the way God is, and that is the way of Love. God is Love and so does not repay evil for evil, does not retaliate or seek revenge, but overcomes evil with good. Behold the Cross.

Therefore, with St. Isaac of Nineveh, 7th century Christian Bishop, we say, “Even to think this of God and to suppose that retribution for evil acts is to be found with Him is abominable.”

The Highest Authority for Christian Truth?

Sola Scriptura is the Protestant doctrine that makes one’s own interpretation of Scripture the highest authority for Christian faith and life, and by which interpretation, one is competent to reprove and correct the teaching of the early Church. It is the doctrine by which Protestants allow themselves the right of private interpretation by which they may judge anything and everything in the Church. They may not mean the doctrine to do that; it is certainly not defined that way, but that is how it turns out — the logic of it leads inexorably to that conclusion. 

Now, it is often held in some forms of Sola Scriptura that that there are other forms of authority in the Church, but that they all must be subject to the Scriptures — and indeed they do! But in Sola Scriptura, what this actually ends up meaning, sooner or later, that all other such forms of authority must be subject to one’s private interpretation of the Scriptures. So the interpreter becomes his own highest authority on what must be the faith and life of the Church.

Some have recognized the problem and titled it Solo Scriptura as a safeguard against Sola Scriptura. It is the recognition that, yes, there are other legitimate authorities in the Church that must be considered. But that does not solve the problem because it does not recognize that the nature of Scripture is such that it must be interpreted if it is to have any meaning or have authority. But if Scripture must be interpreted in order to have authority, and there is no authoritative interpretation of Scripture, then it is incoherent to speak of Scripture as being authoritative.

On the other hand, if there are other legitimate Church authorities, as many/most proponents of Sola Scriptura affirm, but they are authoritative only insofar as they agree with Scripture — as I have heard may proponents say — then how does one determine which of those authorities truly agree with Scripture except by comparing it against one’s own interpretation. We may say we are testing it against Scripture, but what does that really mean except that we are testing it against our interpretation of Scripture.

There are yet others who, seeing the problem of Solo Scriptura, but finding Sola Scriptura for whatever reason inadequate, have proposed Prima Scriptura. Whether that is a sufficient view depends on how it is defined:

• It affirms Scripture as primary, but how does it relate to the authority of Church and Tradition (what has been handed down from the beginning)?
• Is Scripture seen as separate from the Church, or as within the Church, arising through and from the Church?
• Is it seen as separate from the Tradition (what has been handed down from the beginning), or as within Tradition, handed down with all the apostles handed down once for all to the saints?
• Is it to be interpreted apart from the Church, or interpreted by the Church, by the "rule of faith," what was handed down (traditioned) from the apostles?

Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky, in Bible, Church, Tradition: An Eastern Orthodox View, put forth a view that might be an ecclesial Prima Scriptura: Scripture is primary; tradition witnesses to it; the Church interprets; private judgment contrary to the Church is rejected. Not Scripture alone apart from the Church, but Scripture first and always — in the Church and by the Spirit.

It should be worth nothing that the early Church Fathers never had a doctrine of Sola Scriptura or anything like it. They clearly affirmed the sufficiency of Scripture — but only as interpreted by the Church, the “rule of faith,” and what was handed down from the beginning.

Inspiration and Interpretation

The inspiration of Scripture cannot be separated from the interpretation of Scripture, for without interpretation, there is no meaning, and without meaning, inspiration is simply incoherent?

The Mystical Supper

Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all participate in the one loaf. (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

For I received [paralambano] from the Lord what I also handed over [paradidomi] to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over [paradidomi], took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance [anamnesis] of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance [anamnesis] of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

St. Paul tells us about the Last Supper, the Mystical Supper, in his Letter to the Church at Corinth. This Supper is a participation in the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, it is a participation in Christ himself, and so, in the Body of Christ. For the Cup of Thanksgiving (Eucharist) is a participation in the Blood of Christ. That is, it partakes of the Blood of Christ, takes part in its reality, making it present. Likewise the Bread we break in Eucharist partakes of the Body of Christ, takes part in its reality, making it present. And we who participate in the One Bread become the One Body, the Body of Christ. Eucharist is where we become the Church.

This is not some doctrine Paul devised. It was something that was handed down to him (paradidomi), something he received (paralambano), and he in turn handed it on. This language of handing down, and receiving, and handing on, is language of tradition. It is precisely what tradition is. And so it has been handed down to us, generation after generation, in the Church.

Paul tells us about the night Lord Jesus was handed over and betrayed. At the Last Supper, our Lord took the Bread and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in anamnesis of me.” Likewise, he took the Cup, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in anamnesis of me.”

Anamnesis, the Greek word rendered as “remembrance” in this passage, is not merely a mental recollection. Much more than that, it is the making present and participating in the reality of a thing. The Bread and Wine of the Eucharist makes present and participates in the reality of Christ, in the Body and Blood of Christ. When we eat the Bread and drink the Cup, we are not merely remembering something that happened a long time ago, we are sharing in it in the present, for it is made present to us (or we are made present to it) in those elements. 

It is sacrament and mystery. It is mystical participation in the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen. And in partaking of it, we are the One Body of Christ.

Unconditional and Non-Transactional

The Love of God is unconditional and non-transactional. God is Love, and in Jesus Christ we see exactly what that looks like: self-giving, other-centered and cross-shaped. We hear it in the words of Jesus, in his Great Sermon:

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. 

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:27-36)

There are no conditions here, no transactions, no negotiations. There is only love and grace and mercy, freely extended. This is how God is with us. St. Paul understands this very well — how deeply he has experienced it himself. Listen as he lays out the way of grace and of God in dealing with others, even with enemies:

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:17-21)

What is God’s way of “repaying?” Evil for evil? No! Rather, overcoming evil with good. That is the way of Love, and so of God, for God is Love. Paul again shows us the unconditional, non-transactional nature of love in one of his most famous chapters:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

Yes, faith is important, yet it is not our faith that saves us. Paul tells us this expressly in Ephesians 2:8. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Yes, we are saved through faith, but it is not our faith. None of it comes from us; none of it is our own initiative. Faith is not a condition we must, or even can, meet. Rather, it is through the faith and faithfulness of Jesus Christ that we have been saved. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Our faith is but grateful recognition of the divine grace and faithfulness of Father, Son and Holy Spirit that has set us free.

A conditional salvation and transactional gospel utterly misunderstands the grace of God.

The Only Thing That Matters

The only thing that matters is faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6) 

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:11-16) 

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:7-12)

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. 

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

Part of the Plan or Unintended Consequence?

It is really a question about the character and sovereignty of God: If Eternal Conscious Torment were part of God’s plan from the beginning, then what would that say about the character of God? On the other hand, if it were an unintended consequence, then what would that say about the sovereignty of God?

God is Love. Whatever the sovereignty of God is, it cannot be anything other than a manifestation of the love of God. In St. Paul’s wonderful description of  Love in 1 Corinthians, we know that love is not coercive. From the same source, we also know that love never fails, never gives up. Love always perseveres.

Did God choose to create a world in which some would suffer eternal conscious torment, knowing full well that such would be the case? Knowing the end from the beginning — indeed, the end is in the beginning — did God choose to create some who would suffer eternally? That does not sound like the God who is Love (1 John 4:8) but rather a monstrous deity, not worthy of worship.

Or imagine a scenario where God really did not know who would accept or who would reject God. To proceed to create in that situation would mean that the eternal torment of any soul — any one of us — would be an acceptable risk, therefore an acceptable loss, to God. Surely that is not the way of Love.

For God to create a world in which all finally turn to God does not require that God must overcome human will, for the problem of human will has never been anyone freely choosing to act against God and the good. Free will is not the ability to choose against one’s inherent nature, for there would be nothing to distinguish such from random event. But free will is the ability to act according to one’s true and inherent nature. 

What is the true and inherent nature of humans? It is that of creatures created in the image of God, to be like God. But the problem of the will is that because of darkness, deception, sin, and ignorance, the human will was impaired, defective, and in bondage. Shall we then imagine that God would allow anyone whose will is defective because of darkness, deception, sin, bondage, or ignorance to suffer eternal torment because of the defective choice of a impaired will is to imagine God as a pitiless and petty being.

The doctrine of Eternal Conscious Torment is not a biblical one but is cobbled together from various strains. Nor is it a benign doctrine but one that does great damage to both the character and sovereignty of God — and so also to God’s holiness.

Christ and the Fullness of Time

By the Incarnation, Christ has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind, heaven with earth — and eternity with time, in such a way that time is transfigured. It is not so much what happens in time as it is what happens to time. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not merely come in the fullness of time. Rather, he is the fullness of time, the fulfillment of time. He is the end of time, the reason for which time was created. All of creation, including time, consists and coheres in him.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end! (Revelation 22:13).

Christ is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8), and we are chosen in him from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). He is the starting point and the ending point. He is at once the Origination and the Conclusion, the Purpose and the Fulfillment of time, and of all things.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:9-10)

He has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (2 Timothy 1:9-10)

Christ is the singularity of time and space and all creation. Though we experience time in linear fashion, there is no temporal sequence in eternity, no before or after. There is, then, no pre-Incarnate Christ; there is simply Christ the Eternally Incarnate One. 

The First and the Last,
The Beginning and the End,
The Fullness of All,
Ever the Same.

The Authority of Church and Scripture

Holy Scripture cannot be separated from its interpretation. Without the proper interpretation, the inspiration of Scripture is incomplete. The Scriptures must be unveiled for us, and our understanding of them must be opened by our Lord Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. As St. Paul said:

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14-16)

We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. (2 Corinthians 3:13-14)

And in Luke 24, we see Christ precisely that with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and then latter in the Upper Room with other disciples: 

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32)

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:44-45)

It is to the Church and through the Church that Christ reveals himself, and it as the Church that we receive that revelation. For the Church is the only body commissioned and authorized by Christ to preach the gospel, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that our Lord Jesus has commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). It is the only body empowered by the Holy Spirit for that purpose (Acts 1:8). It is the  only body given the promise of our Lord Jesus that the Holy Spirit would lead it into all truth (John 16:13). And it is the only body identified in Scripture as the Pillar and Foundation of the Truth (1 Timothy 3:15).

Scripture cannot be separated from interpretation, for without interpretation, it has no meaning. Without meaning, it has no authority. That being so, the authority of Scripture can be no greater than its interpretation. The question then becomes whether there is a normative, authoritative interpretation of Scripture — and whether such an interpretation can be separated from the authority of the Church. 

It cannot, for our Lord has uniquely authorized the Church to teach all that pertains to himself and the gospel. Further, because Scripture has no meaning apart from interpretation, and therefore no authority apart from interpretation, then it can have no authority greater or more normative than that of its interpretation — or of only Body that is authorized to interpret it. 

What we have been given is Scripture, which requires interpretation, and the Church, which is authorized to preach and teach the gospel, so is authorized to interpret Scripture and tell what it means, and what is normative for Christian faith and life.